6 Unexpected Learnings from a Family Glamping Trip

This summer, we decided to take some time off and haul our camper up through the Midwest.  As expected, we had a good time, and the small breath of fresh air from our busy lives was refreshing.  However, there were also several unexpected learnings we had along the way.

1.  Glamping is challenging - but worth it.   Ok, so if you know me at all, you know that camping is really not “my thing”.  My thing is more of this. However, once the challenges of setting up a camper are addressed (i.e. figuring out how you deal without the important things you forgot, determining a way to cool the camper down to a bearable temp with a barely working A/C, juggling all your stuff so you can move around, etc., etc.), you can emerge from a hot camper into a quiet “campsite” and feel the breeze, smell the trees, and literally be FORCED into nature – the smell of trees, of laughter around a campfire, of a breeze touching your face.  You can’t do that in a 4 or 5 star hotel…if only they could do something about the shower situation!

2. People who camp are nice.  Ok, so when you first pull up to a “campground”, you’re kind of shocked at what you see.  I mean, people have built dog pens for their dogs! These people are driving a HOUSE, for crying out loud!  Our little 16-ft camper looked like an ant amongst elephants.  Many campers have done A LOT of work to make a “home” in the wild.  It’s fascinating - and the ultimate in “self-sufficiency.”  They have created their environment and they’re happy in it.  So, I’m not sure if there’s something in the nature of campers that is just genuinely nice or if people get nicer the more they’re outdoors and self-sufficient.  But I love it - our daughter took off into a crowd of girls who put her under their wings and parents greeted us with tactful suggestions and useful objects like a fan and leveler for the “camper newbies” – wow!

3. A “family trip” is not the same as a “vacation”…

a.     “Vacation” connotes something magical, whether it’s full of adventure OR reading on a beach. A vacation is about “me”, “my time”, what “I” want to do. 

b.     “Family trip”, on the other hand, immediately changes my perception of what it is - it’s a time when we are together 24/7.  We’re together no matter what.  It’s negotiating. It’s messy.  Yes, it’s beautiful but it requires effort – in some ways, just like work.

What I realized is that using the word “vacation” when taking a “family trip” sets me up for disappointment - but as with many things in life…these ideas come from experience.  I gave this “vacation” an overall ranking of 6 (on scale of 1-10) but I gave the “family trip” a 9 when I changed my perspective.  Our daughter gave it a 12 :)   

4.    Being Cousin Eddie is kind of cool. This was our first voyage in our camper, and we eventually made our way to visit friends in Des Moines where we parked it in front of their house for several days.  Historically, I’ve assumed that parking a camper in front of a friend’s house was not the best way to keep said friend, primarily after my first viewing of Christmas Vacation years ago.  However, I never really understood the immense value of staying JUST OUTSIDE your friend’s house!  Having some physical separation and some space of your own, even if it is via a camper creates a talking piece, a spirit of adventure and a place to go when you need time alone.  Everyone loved it, and as far as I know, we still have our friends!

5.    It’s Not Where You Are, It’s Who You’re With - When I think of all the places I’ve been on vacation and all the places I want to go, I never really had Des Moines, IA on the radar!  But that’s where our gracious, dear friends live.  It’s true - that where you vacation is less about where you are because I can’t think of a trip I would have enjoyed more when we landed in Johnson, Iowa - a small town outside of Des Moines.  The excitement that week was one of the neighbors had a potbelly pig, Babe, who escaped.  A neighborhood rally occurred to try to find him.  Then, the police got involved when he was found running along the soccer field. Seriously - you can’t make this stuff up.   I’m so grateful to have a family trip that gave me the chance to experience time with my sweet, amazing friends!

6.     Taking Time Away Cultivates Gratitude -  When you run your own business, work doesn’t stop when you physically separate from it.  Sometimes, I get resentful of never being able to “break free” from it.   Typically when I’m on vacation, many of my work worries start to stack up, which stresses me out, and “unstacking them” takes a LOT of intention.  For 8 years I have wanted that to be different.  BUT - for whatever reason (maybe it was my new camper friends or being Cousin Eddy or chasing after a pot belly pig), whatever it was, I decided (I chose) to think about my work differently.  This trip made me more grateful of having work that allows me to do something like take a camper through the hot (and eventually cooler) Midwest, and see friends and frolic in the grass. 

I guess that’s what perspective is all about.  The more I think about it; maybe our “family glamping trip” was a 12 after all!

What I Valued Most about a Boutique Agency's Values

Going in to my internship at April Bell Research Group (ABRG), I didn’t know what to expect. I liked that ABRG was part of a Women in Business (WIB) cohort in Dallas because as an Economics and Math major, I see myself in business. What I didn’t know was how interning at a Marketing Research boutique agency would correlate with my strengths, interests, and plans for the future.

What I discovered during my internship with ABRG is that I had found a place to combine my strengths with the company’s values, and it was a great experience!

Learning for Growth

“Learning to grow” was one of the values practiced continuously at ABRG, and I was lucky enough to be a part of applying this learning process. 

Specifically, many of the projects I worked on this summer involved growing ABRG’s online presence. They included the following:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

  • SEO increases your ranking and visibility in Search Engines, predominantly Google. I learned and executed my learnings about SEO on ABRG’s website in hopes of propelling ABRG’s online presence.  

• Affiliate Linking

  • April and her team enjoy sharing with other women, small businesses, researchers, etc. what they have learned.  And many online resources encourage sharing by creating a way to earn a small commission for services and products they believe in.  Her favorite affiliate to share is Asian Efficiency’s productivity content– specifically their Ritual Course has been the backbone of a lot of the team’s growth over the last year.

• Online Courses

  • ABRG has been asked by researchers the past few years to teach specific moderating and facilitation skills. I worked on researching the technical ins-and-outs of creating an online course so that when the time comes, ABRG can move forward with launching a successful course for researchers!

“Pit Crew” Teamwork

It’s clear that April & co. work well together as a team.  They often refer to themselves as a “pit crew”!  The company-wide effort to re-do ABRG’s website this summer involved a lot of teamwork. Everyone’s strengths were utilized for different parts of this project and we relied on each other to understand the bigger picture. The video below is the inspiration behind how ABRG aspires to work together in the most efficient manner.

The Championship winning F1 team Red Bull Racing practice their pitstop. They manage it in a flying 2:05 seconds. Absolutely mental. Watch it in slow-motion! Subscribe for more: http://link.base79.com/polepositionsub Pole Position is the place for motorsport fans and petrol heads covering the very best races, teams and drivers from around the world.

This Summer, teamwork looked like:

• Being OK with Not Knowing
  • Sometimes asking for help is hard, but I found it beneficial to our overall goal because I learned more when I asked. This new definition of teamwork – the one open to asking for direction – has reframed my thinking about asking questions and given me a new perspective on collaboration.
• Getting Unstuck Together
  • A lot of the online work I learned about was not only new to me but also to ABRG. When none of us knew how to do something or what to do next, we brainstormed. This helped me because it provided direction to move forward. Recognizing that being “stuck” is part of the process to move forward early on this summer helped me be successful at ABRG.
• Meeting Participation
  • Having everyone else’s perspective as well as my own at our meetings helped move along projects effectively and efficiently. Thus, teamwork is also about being open to other’s perspectives AND offering my own ideas, which helps a project be as successful as it can be.

ABRG utilized teamwork to raise the bar on what it could do for its new website and yielded successful results.

The projects I worked on this summer had many values instilled within them. The values of “learning to grow” and “pit crew teamwork” have taken on new meanings for me and were key to the positive experience I had in my internship. Because these values were at the core of ABRG, they were also instilled my mindset and my work, and I feel like I flourished this summer. 

By: Cecilia Esquivel, 2016 ABRG Summer Intern, Emory University

Using Improv Principles when Ideating

“I’m not creative”,“I have a hard time brainstorming in a group”. So many people, including me, feel this way. In the increasing number of new product development ideation sessions we conduct with our clients, we are finding that the “set up” process is just as important as the actual ideation. “Using improv principles” helps us guide the team to think outside the box and successfully build off one another’s ideas. Here is a list of Improv Principles that we regularly use and believe help create successful ideas during an ideation or brainstorm session:

1. Yes And…
2. Be Present
3. Have Fun
4. Be Open to Failing
5. Adapt
6. Justify Other’s thinking
7. Trust the Process…and yourself

The first and most important principle to follow is justifying others thinking by continually saying “yes, and….” We have found that by using this technique, it allows team members to build ideas, not kill them. It makes each team member feel comfortable and open to sharing his or her ideas – no matter how outlandish they may be. In an article titled 4 Improv Principles That Could Skyrocket Your Career, the founder of Improv on the Job, Taren Sterry states, “this principles is about accepting and building on what is offered. It’s about listening fully, then responding. It’s about investing in what’s happening in the now.”

Another similar principle we try to encourage during ideation sessions is “justify others thinking”. Most of our clients spend a lot of time having to justify their own thinking but when we brainstorm, the opposite is needed. Justifying others thinking helps everyone to get into the spirit of opening up so that ideas flow more freely.

To Build off this principle, another important thing for teams to remember is to “be present and in the moment” when ideating. It is hard for employees to shut off for an entire day, but if they are distracted by their phone or answering emails it negatively impacts the ideas generated and doesn’t help to solve the problem at hand.

Lastly, “openness to failing” is a very important principle. If members are worried that their idea will be mocked or dismissed, they are likely to retract and not offer additional ideas. If everyone is in agreement that “there are no bad ideas” the ideation session will have a positive spirit that encourages sharing and building ideas.

While all the improve principles listed above are important, we have found that the few described in detail have the biggest impact on successful sessions and help create an atmosphere that best fosters brainstorming. The key is getting team members to open up, trust the process and most importantly HAVE FUN! Once the team does this, they will trust themselves and produce better ideas.

Advice You Would Give To A College Freshman

Recently, we conducted an ideation session with one of our corporate clients to help them create promotional concepts for their next media campaign. We began the session with a practice brainwriting topic on “advice you would give a college freshman”.

All teams had 3 minutes to write as many ideas as possible on Post-its. After the brainwriting exercise, each group converged the ideas, narrowing them into themes. Below are some of the key themes based on the team’s ideas:

1) Don’t Lose Who You Are:

• “You are smart enough…”
• “Do the right thing”
• “Don’t worry about what others think”
• “Do what makes you happy”
• “Be present”

2) Don’t Forget Who Got You Here:

• “Call your mom”
• “Call your dad”
• “Take your laundry home”

3) Practical Tools To Get You Through:

• “Learn to powernap”
• “Coffee”
• “Don’t buy books- rent”
• “Join groups on campus”
• “Find a mentor”

4) Be Adventurous:

• “Travel overseas for class”
• “Live in the moment”
• “Seek out people not like you”
• “Go where others are not”
• “Meet different people”

5) Stay Motivated And On Track:

• “Keep your eyes on the goal”
• “Be honest about real goals”
• “Look ahead”
• “Don’t procrastinate”
• “You can change the world”

This practice brainwriting session was a great way to get the participants thinking creatively and helped lead the group through a successful ideation session. We also came away with great advice for those entering their freshman year of college. Now that I’m thinking about it...this advice would have been valuable to know when I was a college freshman!

Making the Connection

As my economics professor likes to say, “economics is the study of making good choices.” While most people consider economics to be relevant only in financial markets, in reality, economics impacts everything around us. Economics explains why we choose to go to work each morning rather than stay home and lounge all day: in theory, we have more to gain by what we can accomplish at work than what we can accomplish at home, be it financial, social, psychological, or personal gains. Economics explains why we eat just one (or maybe two) pieces of cake instead of consuming the whole thing: because the pleasure received from each additional piece of cake decreases as more and more is consumed. Economics also explains why we choose to buy one product over another: if we are behaving rationally, the product we choose to buy will bring us a higher level of utility per dollar spent than the product we do not purchase.

Being a student of economics, I am a rational and logical thinker (or at least try to be). I enjoy trying to understand why consumers make the decisions they make. But for me, there has always been a disconnect. I have always understood that there are factors which change the consumer demand for a product (income, changes in consumer preferences, or changes in the price of related goods). I also understand that competitive markets will respond to this demand. Firms will increase production of the good as demand increases and decrease production of the good as demand decreases. But how do companies predict these changes before they happen? How do companies respond to changes in the market demand before they find themselves out of business?

This is where marketing research comes in—it connects consumer’s wants and needs directly to the company’s business strategy and operations. It provides a means for companies to continue to grow, develop, and stay ahead of the competition. Marketing research is the link that has been missing from my understanding of the consumer-producer relationship. This internship at April Bell Research Group has allowed me to explore the relationship between uncovering consumer wants and the business strategies companies employ in response. I definitely have a lot to learn!

A New Beginning

What a wonderful whirlwind these past few months have been! Time has flown since I packed up my belongings in Austin seven months ago and made the decision to move back to Dallas, eager to start a position with April Bell Research Group. I was excited for the opportunity to work with April again, but I really had no idea what to expect with this new role.

When I joined the company, it was just April and I, working from her home office. It was great - I could wear jeans to work everyday and take breaks to play with April's sweet little 2-year old, Autumn. Starting out in such a relaxed environment helped me feel comfortable quickly and made my job transition easy and painless. I was learning a lot and helping out with many different aspects of the business, and it was so fulfilling to be making a meaningful impact. Not too long after I started, April hired another awesome employee, Talia, and since then, we have been growing, non-stop.

As much as we all loved the casual, fun environment of April's home office, we were soon on a search for a new office space. Now, if you've ever tried to find an office space, you'll know that it's not typically an easy task, but we were lucky in finding an amazing space pretty quickly. Christine Rogers at Sparkfarm connected us with a cool office loft in the West End that had availability, and we jumped on it!

We moved, with almost no down time, and I am loving it here! I really can't think of anything I don't like about the space. It's wonderful. Well okay, it's always really cold in the office, but we make it work with our blankets and Snuggies. If that's the only problem with this space, then I'm sure we're going to be just fine!

These past couple of months, we have been at full speed, with a lot going on, and the three of us hard at work on getting it all done. But it's such a good problem to have, and I am loving the experience. This journey has been full of so many pleasant surprises thus far, and I'm looking forward to the exciting opportunities that lie ahead for us!

Learning My "ABCs"

I never truly understood the meaning of “going from 0 to 60“ until I got to know April. That phrase is now the definition of my life every day, every week - and I'm loving every second of it!

This summer, April hired me as her Chief Wrangler, which is just a really awesome way of saying office/project manager. I was thrilled to be putting some of my strongest skills to work - I excel in organization, planning and keeping everyone calm, all in a super fast-paced environment. On top of that, we were working out of April's home. It's always an adventure when you are sharing an office with 2 dogs and a toddler running around. It was never a dull moment.

Although we all enjoyed our afternoon breaks to play with April's adorable little girl, the three of us were growing busier by the minute. In August, we decided to get a space of our own - a really cool, loft-style space in the West End with wood floors, exposed brick and a great view of the city. As an added bonus, we are in the same building as one of our long-time clients!

My first few months have been full of training, researching, assisting on projects and keeping track of ever-changing schedules. April, Mayuri and I are always on the go, while trying to coordinate our schedules and keep communication lines clear and open. Work days have been more on the longer side lately, which isn't so bad when your company promotes Friday afternoon fiestas! We always try to keep things fun and interesting!

Despite all the madness, there are some really exciting things happening in our company with some great opportunities ahead of us this fall. I can't wait to see where we are in the next few months and to help our company grow. I've had to do some adjusting on my part, since I've never had as much responsibility as I do now. However, I feel truly blessed to be a part of such a unique and talented group.

The next few months are sure to be a wild ride. Keep tuning into our blog and you will hear all about the exciting upcoming months and the everyday happenings in a small, yet extraordinary/dynamic company.

Growing Without Pain

They say if you're not growing, you're dying (I don't actually know who says that besides my Dad who repeated it often)….but these days, I'm definitely living because I'm growing!

I wasn't planning on growing. In fact, I emphatically said to many people that I don't WANT to grow my business!  But I started to change my perspective after reading EMyth late last year. Since then, I've been noodling on their ideas about purpose, vision, blah, blah, blah. The primary message of that book (for me) is that when you get clarity on what you want out of life, you can get clearer on what you want out of your business...and when you get clearer on that, you begin seeing how so much of what you're spending your time on is not getting you more of what you really want. 

So what I really want is to have long-lasting relationships with awesome clients. And to conduct really cool research with them so that we're all learning…and growing. 

And to do that flawlessly, I am finally realizing I can't do everything by myself. I need help.  Wow, I said it. And, a few months after deciding this, I DO have help…in the form of 2 full-time employees. And, it's awesome. Yippeee!!! I know not everyone has awesome employees but I can honestly say that for all the waiting and grumbling about having them, I am pretty darn blessed, lucky, whatever you want to say. Because I found 2 who are extremely bright, responsible, and passionate, and they're helping me grow in ways I wasn't expecting.  

Meet my new team:  

Mayuri Joshi, 

whose official title is Research Magician because she's helping me magically turn consumer learnings into insightful stories with recommendations. 

And Talia Short, 

who is my Chief Wrangler and manages the important details that make or break a project as well as my daily office happenings. I'm loving their fresh passion and hard-working spirit.

AND, I've been working on defining a business plan amidst a busy research season and found this slideshare powerpoint, which has provided more motivation and information about how to go about taking a business a small business to the next level from Adele Barlow.

Now, back to work and on to more growth!

New Year's Food for Thought

A quick excerpt I enjoyed reading from My Fit Foods  in their Tip of the Week. Love their quick, to the point suggestions on living a healthier, happier lifestyle.  It motivates me...and I'm all about being motivated after a crazy 2012 4th quarter and busy Christmas!  

 Be "un-perfect". 

That may be the best made up word and New Year’s resolution ever!  Perfection is a trap.  If you wait until the situation/weather/way you feel is perfect then you will find precious days and years will pass you by.  Now is the time to dance in the rain.  So many times in life, we want to wait until the storm passes until we make a change, start something new or just enjoy life.  You are in control of the choices in your life, and now is the best time to start achieving your goals.

Here are 5 simple ways to start making the most out of life!

1. Put your mind to it.  Believe…such a simple word with so much power!  Think of your brain as fertile soil and your words and thoughts as seeds.  When you plant positive thoughts and beliefs, just like seeds, that is what grows.  Plant a tomato seed, grow a tomato. Negative thoughts and self-doubt act as weeds that can sabotage.  Each day, visualize your goals and believe you can achieve them.  "I am the greatest of all time."  Muhammad Ali said that thousands of times, and millions of people agree he was the greatest of all time.  He began that journey by telling himself first, and so can you.
2. Take action each day to form new habits.  If you decide that workouts are going to happen before work each morning, then schedule it like a business appointment. Each time you perform that action, it starts to become part of a routine.  Consistent routine then forms habit.  Picture this:… a 3 year old that had to get him or herself ready for school in the morning.  Alarm goes off and BAM! The race against time starts! Spring out of bed, teeth brushed, shower, hair, breakfast, news/traffic report, and off.  Not likely, right? For a 3 year old, heck, the process of just getting dressed in the morning without crying is sometimes an accomplishment!  But over time as we get older getting ready in the morning becomes simply “our routine.”  In starting new things, you sometimes can feel like that overwhelmed 3 year old just trying to get your pant leg on, but as you take action and stick with it, everything will simply fall into line…into your routine.
3. Label your actions in two categories:  Goal achieving & Stress Relieving.  Goal achieving activities are productive and move you closer to your goal and success.  Stress relieving activities (such as binging on junk food, gossiping, t.v., procrastination, and excessive alcohol consumption) all feel good at the moment, but waste time and derail you from long term success.   Make sure all your actions are goal achieving!
4. 30 seconds of willpower.  You ever notice that it is typical only “moments of weakness” that can start to unravel you.  Practice 30 seconds of will power to say no, distract yourself or find a healthy, goal achieving activity to keep on course.
5. Plan ahead.  In the battle of hunger and the bag of tortilla chips – the chips will always win.  Be prepared for the day with your meals and snacks that will keep you on track and feeling great.  Eat every 2-3 hours starting with a protein based breakfast.

Road Warrior Mommy

Wow, I can't believe it's been 5 months since Autumn was born!!

I am about to leave for my 3rd traveling research project. Does the travel ever get easier now that I have a baby at home??

Our newborn photographer posted this picture of our sweet cupcake on her blog--just saw it!